Reed gets clearance
Auburn isn't quite so small anymore.
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Trayvon Reed, a 7-foot-1, 240-pound center, has earned academic clearance and is eligible to begin playing basketball immediately at Auburn, Bruce Pearl said Friday.
Reed will travel with the team this weekend and be available to play at Clemson on Sunday, Pearl said.
Reed, a member of Auburn's highly-ranked 2015 recruiting class, spent the fall semester at ELEV|8 Sports Academy, a prep school in Delray Beach, Fla. He has four years of eligibility remaining.
Reed is one of six players in Auburn's 2015 recruiting class. With Reed's enrollment, five of the six are now officially Tigers.
Santa Monica (Calif) four-star guard New Williams, Hargrave Military Academy (Chatham, Va.) four-star strong forward Danjel Purifoy, Columbia State Community College (Columbia, Tenn.) T.J. Dunans and Tucker (Ga.) three-star guard Bryce Brown all signed with Auburn during November's early signing period.
Findlay Prep (Henderson, Nev.) four-star power forward Horace Spencer is the lone holdout, but he plans to sign with the Tigers in May.
Reed, originally from Mobile, Ala., signed with Maryland in 2014. He was ranked the No. 91 overall recruit that year.
"A true seven-footer," Rivals.com national basketball analyst Eric Bossi wrote in a previous piece on Reed. "Reed runs like a much smaller player, has great length and has good touch around the rim.
"He can block shots, play above the rim and has the tools to develop into a high level interior player."
Auburn certainly hopes so.
The Tigers are among the bottom one percent of Division I teams in block percentage and have swatted just 10 of their opponents' 354 shot attempts this season. Without a shot-blocking presence near the basket, Auburn has struggled to engineer any kind of defensive presence.
Opponents shot 40.3 percent from the floor against Auburn during both the 2012-13 and 2013-14 seasons. Opponents are shooting 47.7 percent this season.
Reed's offensive skills are raw, but his ability to protect the rim should improve Auburn's defense almost immediately.
Auburn on Friday also added Alex Thompmson, who re-joined the team after a leave of absence prior to the start of the season.